Sensitivity of fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry to various polymorphic forms of cortisone acetate

The present paper discusses non-traditional possibilities of the applications of mass spectrometry to the detection and study of differences in crystal polymorphic forms. The parameter of fast-atom bombardment which is sensitive to different polymorphs, namely the rate of the formation of cluster ions of an analyte with the glycerol matrix, was chosen for study. Using as an example the analysis of four different samples of cortisone acetate, varying in their polymorphic forms, treatment procedures, and dispersion of the crystalline powder, it is shown that the relative intensity of the cluster ion [MGH]+ (where M represents the analyte and G a molecule of glycerol) differs for two of the polymorphic forms and is the same for one of these forms, whether it is obtained by recrystallization from chloroform or by cryogrinding. Analysis of the time dependences of the [MGH]+ ion intensity allowed us to detect finer effects in the samples, associated with cryogrinding, namely differences in solubility and presumably, mechanoactivation.